? Can anyone explain Tomlin's decision to accept the 3rd down holding penalty....

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Have you read any of the explanations in this thread? They're dead on. At the time Tomlin made the call, I was scratching my head for a second and then the obvious dawned on me... Tomlin had ZERO confidence in the offense at that point in the game and complete confidence in the defense. So, he kept the defense on the field for one more play, hoping to give the offense a little better field position. I think he was pretty sure that by taking the penalty, Cleveland wasn't going to do anything but play ultra-conservative with a lead and that gave his defense the chance to pin their ears back and try to make something happen. It did actually give them better field position than they otherwise would've had.

Smart move by Tomlin IMO.

Tomlin makes some questionable decisions here and there but I like his willingness to go with his gut on what's working and what's not. He's made decisions like this in this past, keeping the ball away from the struggling unit as much as possible.

Yes I read them.... we lost and lost bad..so the proof is his game plan was terrible ..If you have a game going that bad by the forth quarter and have "ZERO confidence in the offense" like you say then you put in Brian Hoyer!!
you need offense to win the game the last time I checked...

This is the type of mistake that is hard to look past. Way too much risk for the reward. Give your D a chance at a huge & improbable play and risk giving up a first down while the game is still in doubt? I don't see it. I wonder if it was flat out a mistake. He must have thought it was the wrong down.

I would love to see 100 HC's (past and present) polled with this scenario. Shocked if any picked essentially giving the ball away, even for one down...... for ten yards of FP and the glimmer of hope that the D creates a huge play. I'm 46 & I don't ever remember seeing it before. Has anyone else?

I don't think it's a rant against Tomlin, nor is it ignoring all the other execution errors that occurred during the game. It's also not ignoring the other calls by the coaches to blindly pinpoint one bad call.

It's questioning yet another poor game/clock management decision. An area of development for MT that needs to get better.

Even the players on the field were confused.
Did Tomlin think it was 2nd down?
Also after every penalty he's screaming out "what number,what number?"
Mike, they just called out the number are you deaf?
Tomlin seems to make at least 1 mind-boggling decision each week.
Is he really just a guy who likes to use big words to make himself look bright?

I am starting to think my dad is right: He thinks Tomlin is just not that bright. It is starting to appear that way.

This is the type of mistake that is hard to look past. Way too much risk for the reward. Give your D a chance at a huge & improbable play and risk giving up a first down while the game is still in doubt? I don't see it. I wonder if it was flat out a mistake. He must have thought it was the wrong down.

I would love to see 100 HC's (past and present) polled with this scenario. Shocked if any picked essentially giving the ball away, even for one down...... for ten yards of FP and the glimmer of hope that the D creates a huge play. I'm 46 & I don't ever remember seeing it before. Has anyone else?

I don't think it's a rant against Tomlin, nor is it ignoring all the other execution errors that occurred during the game. It's also not ignoring the other calls by the coaches to blindly pinpoint one bad call.

It's questioning yet another poor game/clock management decision. An area of development for MT that needs to get better.

It has become a trend. Tomlin likes to say "I coach by feel, whatever my gut tells me." Well, you better have a "gut check" because your guy has been crap the last few seasons. Poor clock management, and calls like this one....he isn't all that bright. I still like him, but he needs to learn from these mistakes. I am not sure if he is capable of it.

This is the type of mistake that is hard to look past. Way too much risk for the reward. Give your D a chance at a huge & improbable play and risk giving up a first down while the game is still in doubt? I don't see it. I wonder if it was flat out a mistake. He must have thought it was the wrong down.

Putting the ball back in the hands of an offense that's trying to beat you? On a day when laundry is flying every other play ? Not a good call. No rationale can defend it. It was a mistake.

I think MT has several good qualities but this is an area of development for him that has got to improve.

It absolutely was not a mistake and the results of the following play bore that out...it requires no defense...

Just as most coaching decisions, if it works, it was the right call...if it doesn't, it wasn't the right call...

If Tomlin had opted to make the Browns punt on that down, what are people saying if our punt returner muffs the punt, which ends up even closer to the goalline, and the Browns recover inside our 5 yard line?

I'll tell you: "Tomlin should have taken the penalty. People were fumbling all day...he shouldn't have risked that..."

3 interceptions 5 fumbles and you guys were excited for this unit to win you the game?

this right here... if they were at the 50 then Tomlin doesn't make that call. They were backed up inside the 20 and the percentages were pretty high that the Browns would run the ball on 3rd and 20. We aren't talking about the Pats or the Saints either...

I knee-jerk didn't agree with the decision at the time, but in retrospect I think it was the right one.

At that point in the game it had become very clear we were not going to win the game with the ball in our offense's hand IMO. As such, there was every reason in the world to give the defense a chance to be on the field every second it possibly could. This being especially true, as ironically the Browns had a backup QB on the field that their OC obviously had no confidence in either.

In a way it is (IMO) similar to Bellicheat* going for it on 4th down on their own 20 yard line a few years ago. He had absolutely no confidence his D* at the time could stop a gnat, so he kept the ball in the hands of his best unit*.